ERIE, Pa. (CNS) — Bishop Lawrence T. Persico Dec. 17 announced the opening of the canonization cause for Gertrude Barber, a renowned Erie educator and Catholic woman of faith who dedicated her life to serving children and adults with intellectual disabilities/autism and their families. “It is an honor to open the cause for sainthood for
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The ongoing reform of the Roman Curia is a necessary part of the Catholic Church’s fidelity to its mission to proclaim the Gospel, recognizing that very few countries today can be described as “Christian” and that new ways of evangelizing are necessary, Pope Francis said. But attempts to meet the new
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (CNS) — City officials in Rehoboth Beach are violating a Catholic group’s constitutional right to free exercise of religion by banning its Nativity display on city property, according to the First Liberty Institute. The Knights of Columbus Star of the Sea Council 7297 had displayed its creche from at least 50 years
WASHINGTON (CNS) — A border divides them, but when it comes to helping the men, women and children caught in the immigration drama playing out in the area that straddles Mexico and the United States, Catholic dioceses are acting as one humanitarian body. And for the second time this year, the Catholic fraternal organization Knights
ROME (CNS) — On the last day of school before Christmas vacation, the students of Rome’s Pilo Albertelli High School were summoned to the school’s courtyard. Some 800 students met Pope Francis there Dec. 20; he was ready to listen to their questions and offer his reflections. The pope was accompanied by Andrea Monda, director
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A new book by the Pontifical Biblical Commission cannot be read as opening the Catholic Church to the acceptance of gay marriage or homosexual unions, said the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. “There does not exist any ‘opening’ to unions between persons of the same sex
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Recent media coverage that points to potential financial misdealing at the Vatican is creating misperceptions about corruption and fails to adequately explain how the fluid world of financial investing works, said the authors of an article published in a University of Notre Dame journal. “We’re worried about the perceptions that can be
ST. MEINRAD, Ind. (CNS) — For most, the holidays are bright days of cheer, filled with laughter, joy and time spent with loved ones. But for some, the darkness of grief smothers the Christmas spirit. There is an empty seat at the dinner table. A stocking that is no longer hung by the fire. The
MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — It might be “unbelievable” to people in other countries, but a Catholic chapel inside a shopping mall and thousands of people attending Mass there have become a new norm among Filipinos. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, the incoming prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, said evangelization can
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — “Continue being ‘smugglers’ of the faith,” Pope Francis told thousands of Filipino migrants living and working in Italy. Starting the Italian Filipino community’s “Simbang Gabi,” a novena of nighttime or pre-dawn Masses in preparation Christmas, the pope praised the community for not only keeping their faith alive, but for enlivening the
